Eric I, Duke of Mecklenburg

Erich, Duke of Mecklenburg, sometimes erroneously Erich I. ( * after 1359; † July 26, 1397 in Visby ) was Duke of Mecklenburg.

Erich was the eldest son of Albrecht III. and Richarde, a daughter of Count Otto von Schwerin. He was probably born in 1365.

He married on 12 / 13th February 1396 Sophie, the daughter of the Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw VI. He had no children with her.

His father made 1386 a new experiment, the royal power in Sweden to secure for itself. The Danish Queen Margaret I intervened and defeated Albrecht in 1389 at the Battle of Åsle near Falköping. Here, Erich was captured together with his father. The two were held captive six years in the imperial castle Lindholmen in Skåne. The release took place in 1395 after three years of negotiations involving the Mayor of Lübeck Hinrich Johann Westhof and Niebur.

In 1395 Erich was instructed by his father with the reconquest of Gotland. In the summer of 1396 he landed with troops on Gotland and defeated in the spring of 1397 Sven Sture, who consequently Erich had to make an oath of fealty. In the same year the union of the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden was sealed under the regency of Queen Margarethe with the Kalmar Union. Erich died 1397 in Visby on the plague, and was buried in St. Mary's Church in Visby on Gotland.